Yup, he's running.
Rob Simmons, the former congressman and intermittent candidate for U.S. Senate, stated unequivocally at the start of a debate Tuesday night that he is in the race -- even though he curtailed his campaign and released his staff shortly after losing the GOP endorsement to Linda McMahon at a party nominating convention in May.
"I am running for the United States Senate because I love my country and I don't like where it's going,'' Simmons told an audience at Trinity College. "I don't like the bailouts, I don't like the unemployment, I don't like the rising deficits, I don't like the foreclosures and in particular, I don't like the unsustained spending that threatens to bankrupt out country."
McMahon spokesman Ed Patru said Simmons "abandoned this primary weeks ago and he's been erratic ever since. I think it's becoming clearer by the day why Republicans are overwhelming backing Linda McMahon."
Simmons joined fellow Republican Peter Schiff and independent candidates John Mertens and Warren Mosler at the debate, which was organized by the Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations.